"You can't get out of it," Major Kira Nerys announced. "Sisko wants the reports
-- all of the reports -- by oh-eight-hundred hours, two days from
now."

Odo looked up from the bewildering array of PADDs already confronting him.
"You're joking." He glared at his desk's most recent arrival. "Star Fleet
nonsense."

"It isn't nonsense this time." Kira sat down in the chair opposite Odo's
desk and looked at him earnestly. "The captain wants you back in charge of
overall security -- not just station security, but Star Fleet security as
well. The only way that's ever going to happen is if you start following
the rules."

"Quite frankly, no -- not since Eddington sabotaged the Defiant to
try to keep us from coming to rescue you and Garak from Enabran Tain. He'd
feel a lot more sure of his back if you were in charge again."

"So I have to compile four months worth of reports in two days."

"Well, if you would keep up on a day to day basis -- "

"Major, you know how it's been here the past few months. Do you honestly
think that I've been neglecting my duties?"

Kira's look was suddenly almost -- tender. "Of course I don't," she said
quietly. "I know what you've been up against." She smiled. "That's why I
thought I'd offer you some of my valuable free time to help you."

"It's not your concern, Major."

"Odo, if I have learned nothing else while the Federation has been in charge,
it's how to absolutely whiz through filling out one of their reports. Odo
-- let me help. I'll come on by tonight, after I'm off duty." She started
for the door, and paused. "Better yet -- come to my quarters. We can access
the information we need from my comlink there, and that way I can be
comfortable."

Odo shook his head, before conceding with a sigh. "All right, Major. What
time?"

"Nineteen-hundred hours?"

Odo dredged up a wry semblance of a smile. "I'll be there."

Odo appeared promptly on schedule, followed by an anti-grav unit piled high
with data pads. "I thought it made for a nice effect," he commented to Kira's
questioning stare. "I made sure that I passed by Sisko's quarters on my way
here."

"Did he see you?" Kira asked as she stood aside for him to enter.

"No, I don't think so." Odo sighed. His gaze took in Kira's casual Bajoran
attire -- loose top, baggy trousers, bare feet -- and he added, "I must admit
you do look more comfortable than you would be in your uniform in my office."

They had soon covered what Odo assumed was meant to be Kira's dining table
-- not that he could picture her actually dining at it -- with the varied
assortment of PADDs, and Kira began tapping away furiously at the main console,
entering data. Odo worked quietly, doggedly, organizing his materials and
passing them along to Kira as she requested them -- within two hours she
was able to sit back and say:

"I don't know why you have so much trouble with this. Your facts are incredibly
well organized, all you have to do is feed them into the proper form. I should
be done with this in another few hours."

"That is good news."

"I think it takes you a lot longer because you resist doing it so much,"
Kira observed.

"Is that your psychological evaluation, Major?"

"No -- no, just my Odo evaluation." Kira looked across at her friend and
smiled. Her smile wavered a little and her eyes dropped as their gazes met.
Odo studied her, concerned.

"Is something wrong, Major?"

"Odo, I have a special favor to ask of you."

"Of course, Major -- anything. What do you want?"

"I realize that I'm your commanding officer, but that's true of me for almost
everyone on the station except for Sisko. And all of my other friends call
me Nerys, at least when we're off duty. It just seems strange that my best
friend insists on calling me 'Major' all of the time."

Odo seemed genuinely taken aback. "You've just never asked me to do otherwise.
I would -- like to call you 'Nerys'." His deep, cut-velvet voice lingered
over the name like a lover's caress. Kira glanced up, startled, to see Odo
placidly tapping figures into one of his data pads.

I must be imagining things, she decided, with some regret. She turned
back to the computer terminal, and so missed the quick look Odo shot in her
direction -- a look redolent with passion and despair.

Kira lost herself in entering the data in the various reports, so much so
that she jumped, startled, when Odo laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "I've
finished getting everything ready to enter," Odo noted. "Would you like me
to take over there so you can go get some rest?"

"Nope -- if you're finished, then I should be finished in another half hour.
Tell you what -- why don't you dig around in that cabinet under the replicator
and find me something to drink?"

"Under the replicator? Why don't I just replicate something for you?"

"Because I don't want synthale, I want something real. And since it
looks like my day off tomorrow is going to be free after all, I thought I
would work on a glorious hangover."

"I don't understand it," Odo observed, even as he began to comply with her
request. "It's my understanding that synthale is just as mood-altering as
alcohol, without any of the damaging side effects -- and without ever causing
what I believe is referred to as a "crying jag"."

Kira shrugged. "Like most spiritual people, the Bajora have trouble with
not paying for their sins," she said with a laugh. "If I end up getting really
drunk, guilt demands that I suffer for it the next morning."

"What would you like?" Odo crouched gracefully in front of the cabinet, and
started pulling out bottles. "You seem to have Alusian kevahr -- and Alusian
kevahr."

"I guess I'll have an Alusian kevahr, then," Kira conceded with a grin. To
his unspoken question she added, "In a tall glass, with ice and a sprig of
mint." She paused, giving the matter further thought. "And a cherry, I think."

Odo replicated the required container and supplements, while Kira finished
entering data. He then poured her a glass of kevahr -- an unabashedly pink
beverage -- and put it down at her elbow.

"I know." Kira looked up at Odo where he stood next to her, giving him a
soft little smile. "I like spending time with you, too, Odo."

Odo's eyes widened slightly, and a look of acute discomfort flashed across
his face. Kira's expression sobered, and she nodded at the chair next to
her.

"Odo, there's something I've been meaning to talk to you about. I've been
putting it off as long as I can without it -- without it having an -- adverse
effect on our relationship."

"What is it, Nerys?" Odo sank down in the chair next to her, eyes fixed on
her face. A look of near-panic skimmed the surface of their ice-blue depths.

"Odo, I'm not sure how to say this -- I've been talking a lot to Jadzia lately
and -- "

"Did she tell you something about me?"

"You? No, not really." Kira furrowed her brow, puzzled at the question. "No,
I was talking about myself. The thing is -- ever since Bareil died, I've
been -- unwilling to even consider another relationship, I haven't wanted
to consider another relationship, and it's been long enough that I had to
start wondering why."

"You must have loved him very much, Nerys."

"That's just it -- we just weren't together long enough for it to be that
much. It's past time for me to -- let go and move on -- only something's
been holding me back."

"Forgive me, Nerys, but -- what does this have to do with our
relationship?"

"I'm getting to that." Kira took a long draw on her drink, and then another,
draining the glass. "Could I have a refill, please?" she asked. "Just put
the bottle on the table."

Odo reached for the bottle -- distorting the length of his humanoid-appearing
arm a little to manage it -- and complied with Kira's request. She poured
herself another generous serving, and sipped at it determinedly before going
on.

"Anyway, it all started when we went to the Gamma Quadrant to look for the
Founders."

"Before Bareil died . . . go on," Odo encouraged. If Kira had dared to meet
Odo's gaze, she would have seen an expression of something little short of
sheer terror, but her vision remained resolutely focused on the glass in
her hand.

"When you -- decided to come back to the Alpha Quadrant with us -- when you
gave up everything you ever wanted just to -- honor your principles -- I
don't know what happened to me. I started thinking about -- about you, and
about how much your -- friendship has come to mean to me over the years.
Then, after Bareil died . . . Odo, I realize that you don't have the same
kinds of feelings that we humanoids do, but I need you to know that -- "
Kira paused, struggling to finish.

"That . . .?" Odo stared at her wonderingly.

" -- that I'm in love with you."

The silence pounded over the table like waves against a cliff. Kira twisted
the glass in her hand, finally laughing nervously.

"You know, I thought I'd have to get a lot drunker before I could tell you
that."

"Nerys . . ." Kira jumped, startled, as Odo slid his hand across the table,
wrapping his fingers around her wrist and then gently entwining his fingers
with hers. She managed to give him a quick, nervous smile.

"I don't mean to embarrass you -- I was just afraid that it was going to
affect our friendship, and my work."

"I know," Odo said seriously. "I've felt the same way."

"You mean -- you knew about me? Have I been that transparent?" Kira stared
at him, dismayed.

"You've been -- entirely opaque," Odo assured her. His words came slowly,
with difficulty. "I mean that I felt that way about me -- about my feelings
for you."

Kira was finally able to look into Odo's eyes, and what she saw there caused
her lower lip to drop, ever so slightly. "Your feelings . . ."

Odo nodded. "I'm in love with you, Nerys. I think I have been for years."

Their gazes remained locked, finally recognizing in the other what each had
denied for so long in their selves. Kira took Odo's hand, still laced with
hers, and brought it up to her cheek.

"Odo . . ." Kira turned her lips into Odo's palm, kissing it lingeringly.
His hand began to shake, and he gently extricated it from her grasp.

"Unfortunately, it isn't that easy," Odo said quietly. "I don't have more
than a -- very remote idea of how it is that humanoids -- love each other.
And I have no native instinct to tell me."

"You mean -- sexually," Kira ventured.

"That's right." Odo laced his fingertips together, his hands beginning a
wrestling match on the table in front on him. "I love you -- but I have no
idea how to make love to you."

"Do you -- do you want to make love to me, Odo?"

"Oh, my -- " Odo's eyes fluttered closed, and for a single alarmed instant
Kira thought he was going to melt into a puddle right there on her floor.
Then he fixed her with a riveting stare, his gaze moving longingly over her
face. "Want to? Of course I want to."

Kira reached out and reclaimed his hand in hers. "Then let me show you,"
she said simply. "I may not be the world's best teacher in most things, but
I think I can tell you how to make love to me. Question is -- how do I make
love to you?"

"One thing at a time."

They stood up spontaneously, almost at the same instant, and Kira nodded
in the direction of a doorway across the room. "I think we'll be more comfortable
in there."

Odo froze, staring. "Your bedroom. . ."

"We can start on the couch if you like . . . I just thought that since we're
likely to end up there eventually . . ."

"Eventually, yes," Odo agreed.

"When did you see us getting as far as the bedroom?" Kira asked, her
tone gently teasing as she wrapped her hands around Odo's arm and leaned
close into his side.

"Two years sounds about right."

"Come on." Kira tugged with soft insistence. "Trust me, the more room we
have, the less awkward it will be."

She managed to get Odo all the way to her bed, although as he passed through
the doorway and beheld the object in question, he paused to stare at it with
all the enthusiasm he might bestow on a venomous snake. He sat stiffly on
the very edge, hands thrust out rigidly in front of him. Kira stood before
him, a slight smile touching the corners of her mouth.

"Tell you what -- stand back up for a minute."

Odo shot to his feet as though on springs. Kira chuckled. "Just relax.
I'm not keeping score here, and there are absolutely no reports to fill out."

"Nerys," Odo whispered, suddenly, overwhelmingly touched at the inclusion.
Kira took both his hands in hers and placed them on her waist. Odo slid them
around her cautiously, so that his body pressed into hers.

Answering Kira's question before she could finish it, Odo began to kiss her.
She gasped as his lips closed warmly over hers, the perfectly shaped humanoid
tongue that enabled him to speak in those deep modulated tones - - that
voice, that honeyed, sandpaper growl -- sliding past her teeth to lap
delicately at the depths of her mouth. Kira savored the warm, wet feel of
it -- he's naturally a liquid, she remembered, I wonder why I expected
his mouth to be dry? In any event, the sensation was surprisingly familiar,
not unlike any number of kisses she had experienced in the past, including
the hot tightening contraction she felt in her groin. She automatically let
her hips bump into Odo's, while she continued to kiss him hungrily.

"Nerys . . . Nerys, slow down." Odo took Kira by the shoulders and held her
slightly away from him, endeavoring to control the trembling that ran through
his body. "I'm sorry . . . I can't think."

Odo shook his head, slowly drawing Kira back against him. "It's not you --
I'm sure this is all very -- strange for you. I just -- my dreams never went
beyond your saying that you loved me. I couldn't even imagine -- "

Kira thought in silence for a moment. Finally she ventured, "You read so
many works of -- human fiction -- haven't you run across anything that --"

"Yes, but they're all so vague!"

"All of them?"

"I suppose that some of them are -- quite explicit if you're coming from
the same frame of reference, but to me they're vague."

"Well, then . . ." Kira paused, helpless. For a brief instant an image of
herself calling Dr. Bashir and asking him to make a house call -- nothing
much, just a quick, illustrated lecture on humanoid sexuality -- nearly made
her giggle. She thrust away the humorous notion with one look at Odo's anguished
expression. Instead, she stepped back, reaching down to start removing her
trousers.

"The secret isn't really all that complicated," she assured Odo with a confidence
she was far from feeling. She finished pulling off her pants, so all that
covered her was the blousey tunic. "The main thing is -- a lot of touching
that's gentle. I don't think you'll have any trouble recognizing what pleases
me -- but I'll tell you, just so you're sure."

Kira lifted her top over her head, and then let it fall to the floor. Odo
watched her with wide, anxious eyes, until she reached out and took his hands,
gently pulling him toward her. She brought his hands to rest against her
breasts, moving them in a light, circular motion until Odo caught on and
took up the movement himself. While Odo might have had no native sexual drive,
his detective's instincts were well ingrained. He fondled her breasts with
acute concentration, observing the changes to her nipples, the tightening
and hardening of her flesh beneath his fingertips. Then, abruptly, he let
his hands fall.

"This can't be making love! It's more like -- a scientific experiment!" Odo's
voice was despairing. "I can't do it -- not like this. I'm sorry, Nerys."
Odo plummeted from the room, out through the living area and into the corridor
beyond. Kira was left standing, gasping for breath, stark naked and utterly
stunned. She reached down with nerveless fingers, picking up her tunic from
the floor and pulling it on over her head. She then went to sit back at the
table, pouring herself another Alusian kevahr, this time dispensing with
the ice, the mint, and the cherry, and draining the glass in a single breath.
She went on to finish the bottle, and its mate under the replicator as well.

It was long, long time before she finally passed out.

Odo stood in corridor outside Kira's quarters for what seemed like an eternity,
trying to collect his tangled wits and decide what to do next. Part of him
wanted to crawl back to Kira and beg her forgiveness, to offer to do anything
she asked, but a small voice of reason stopped him. It wasn't going to work,
not like that. He couldn't begin anything so vital without some more tangible,
pertinent information to go on, something to help relieve the terror of failure
that gnawed at him. Odo leaned against the wall, wondering for one agonized
second if he was going to lose control of his shape and dissolve into a puddle
right there.

"Odo -- is something wrong?"

The soft voice belonged to Jadzia Dax, returning to her nearby quarters,
no doubt after another evening playing tongo at Quark's. Odo turned slowly
to face her, for once defenseless against the compassion that radiated off
Dax in gentle waves. Dax's eyes narrowed in concern, and she reached out
to lay her hand on Odo's arm. She considered the nameplate next the door
he stood before, and nodded slowly in understanding.

"Come on with me back to my quarters -- you look like you need to talk."

Odo followed her meekly, for once glad to let all control out of his hands,
to allow someone else to be in charge. Dax bustled him along efficiently
until she had him safely ensconced on her sofa next to her, his hand clasped
firmly in both of hers and resting against her knee.

"All right, Odo, what happened? Did Nerys tell you?"

Odo avoided the discourtesy of asking Dax to specify what she meant. Instead,
he simply nodded. "Yes -- she told me."

"Forgive me if I'm wrong, but -- wasn't it good news?"

"Of course -- I imagine you know that." There was a pause as they both thought
back to the hours Odo had spent "joined" with Curzon. "It was just so --
unexpected. I wasn't prepared."

"I'm surprised that Curzon didn't provide you with everything you'd need
to know for a situation like that," Dax commented dryly.

"I imagine he would have, but his memories aren't really mine anymore, except
in the abstract. And everything was moving -- very quickly and concretely."

"And you didn't know what to do."

"And I didn't know what to do," Odo agreed.

"So you panicked."

Odo sighed. "Yes."

"Oh, Odo." Dax shook her head. "Didn't you have some basic idea?"

"It just seemed -- too vague."

"And I imagine you've never tried anything in the holosuites."

Odo looked indignant at the very suggestion. "I've tried kayaking in the
holosuites. And that's all the income Quark's going to derive from me."

"Well, what have you read about it?" Dax asked curiously. "Anything helpful?"

"Odo, those are all great writers, but -- that's sort of like reading poetry
about a tree without knowing what a tree is."

"A tree? What does a tree -- "

"A metaphor -- sorry. You need to read some prose before you read any more
poetry." Dax thought for a moment, before standing up to go to her computer
terminal. She briskly on the console for a few moments, before downloading
the information she had retrieved to an oversized data PADD.

"Here we go," she announced, returning to the sofa with the PADD tucked under
her arm. "I think this may be more of what you need right now."

"What is it?" Odo stared at the PADD anxiously, like he fully expected it
to take a bite out of him.

"It's something I just downloaded from the Central Library on Bajor. It's
a children's textbook called _Special Touches_."

"A children's book . . ."

"Trust me -- it's the best choice." Dax placed the PADD so it bridged the
gap between her and Odo's knees. "An adult textbook is just going to be clinical.
This deals less with the scientific details, and more with the feelings
involved." She smiled at Odo's obvious expression of doubt. "Just give me
a chance with this -- if half an hour from now you still think I'm out of
my mind, we'll try something else." She punched a button on the PADD, pulling
up the first image.

Well over a half hour later, Odo was still poring over the PADD, asking questions
with the barely suppressed excitement of a seven-year-old. "So that's what
finally makes it happen," he mused, tapping a spot on the screen.

"No," Dax replied, "this is what makes it happen." She laid her hand over
her heart and pointed the forefinger of her other hand to her head. Odo stared
at her, startled, and then nodded.

"Right."

"Just remember -- Nerys isn't expecting to make love to some perfect replicate
of a Bajoran male -- she could do that in a holosuite, and we both know how
Nerys feels about holosuites! Nerys wants to make love to you, Odo."

"Hmph," Odo grunted noncommittally, sitting back and taking his attention
from the PADD for the first time since Dax had activated it. He managed a
slight nod. "I still can't quite picture it -- but I'll manage, somehow."

"You'll do great," Dax assured him. They both exchanged looks, and suddenly
started to chuckle.

"You'd think I was getting ready to play caro'net," Odo observed.

"Or go wind-surfing," Dax agreed. "If it helps your confidence any, there
is something extremely titillating just about -- innocence. She may not tell
you -- it may even embarrass her that she feels that way -- but Nerys should
find it exciting."

"Innocence?" Odo stared at her curiously. "What do you mean by innocence?"

"Well, not innocence as in the opposite of guilt. Innocence as in -- freshness,
virginity. There's something very -- exciting about being the first person
to make love with a virgin."

"The virgin in this case being me," Odo commented.

"There's no way around it but one," Dax told him. "Now, go home, get some
rest, and stop by the Infirmary in the morning to get Nerys some serious
hangover medicine -- what was she drinking, anyway?"

"Alusian kevahr."

"Ooh -- better tell Julian so he can calibrate the dosage. That stuff can
be nasty."

"I will." Odo stood up and, after some hesitation, held out his hand. "Thank
you, Jadzia."

"Any time." Dax smiled, taking Odo's hand in hers. She jumped a little as
his fingers -- shifted for a moment, setting up an electrifying tingle
against her palm. "Is that what changelings do?" she wondered.

"Odo, you do enough of that to Nerys and she won't have a complaint in the
world -- trust me."

"Good night, Dax."

"Good night."

Odo turned and left, while Dax looked after him musingly, rubbing her hand
against her knee. She looked down at it and sighed.

"Great," she said. "Now I'm the one who's horny."

Following Dax's instructions to the letter, Odo was back at the door to Kira's
quarters by ten the following morning, touching the door chime. There was
no response. Odo tapped the panel again, drumming his fingers nervously against
the nameplate above it.

"I'm not there," came a voice from behind him. Odo turned to find Kira standing
a few feet away, her face pale, obviously in pain. Surprisingly, she wore
her uniform.

"I thought you were off duty today," Odo ventured nervously.

Kira nodded. "I took your reports by to Sisko, and the rest of your data
pads back to your office. "I was hoping to find you there."

Odo shook his head. "I'm off duty today, too. Nerys . . ."

Kira shook her head, and then looked like she bitterly regretted the movement.
"Come on in," she invited, preceding him through the door to her quarters.
She walked over to the Replicator, where she ordered a mug of black coffee.
Odo watched her as she blew on the steaming contents, a taut, fearful expression
on her face.

"I owe you an apology," she said finally, after taking a sip.

"I thought I owed you one," Odo commented. "Why do you owe me an apology,
Nerys? I'm the one who ran out of here like that."

"Yes, but I'm the one who tried pushing you into something that wasn't natural
for you."

"Many things that aren't 'natural' turn out to be enjoyable," Odo said softly.
"Here, take this -- I can't stand to see you in pain." He held out a hypospray.
"Dr. Bashir said to determine the dosage by how many ounces of kevahr you
consumed -- how many did you?"

Kira winced at the memory. "All of it."

Odo ratcheted the setting on the hypospray up several notches. "Here. Take
this."

"I'd say I've suffered enough by now," Kira agreed. She rammed the hypospray
against her arm, holding her breath as the drug rapidly began to take effect.
She lowered the hypospray with a sigh, putting it down on the table and turning
to face Odo squarely. Her eyes, though no longer wearing the mark of physical
pain, were still haunted with a pain of a different sort. Odo crossed the
room toward her, taking her face in his hands. His hands in turn shifted
into two plumes of liquid silver, shimmering against Kira's cheeks briefly
before resolidifying. Kira gasped, the color rising in her face. "What was
that?" she managed.

"Was it -- unpleasant?" Odo looked anxious.

"No! -- no, it was -- very pleasant." Kira raised her hands to cover Odo's,
her breath coming a little faster between parted lips. "I just wasn't --
expecting it."

"Ah." Odo gave her a little smile, before suddenly leaning over and picking
her up, cradling her effortlessly in his arms. Kira looked at him, hope and
astonishment mingled in her face.

"Odo, what are you doing?"

"Starting over," he said purposefully. Odo carried Kira into the bedroom
as lightly as if she weighed no more than a house cat. He put her down on
the bed, and then stood for a moment just looking at her. Kira reached up
and captured his hand in hers, giving it a brief squeeze.

"There's no need to rush this. It can wait for a few days -- hell, it can
wait for a few years if you want it to."

"But I don't want it to." Odo sat on the edge of the bed beside her, and
leaned over to slowly open the front of Kira's uniform. He fondled each breast
lightly as he uncovered it, tiny sparks of silver arcing through his hands
as he did so. Odo peeled away the rest of Kira's uniform with the same gentle
efficiency before lying down alongside her, covering the length of her body
with his.

"Nerys, I love you," Odo breathed against Kira's ear. She clutched him against
her tightly, wrapping her arms around his lean body.

"Almost." Odo shifted in Kira's arms, so that instead of feeling the assumed
fabric of his uniform, she felt warm, smooth skin, with a tracery of sinew
and muscle underneath. "Now I'm ready."

"I should say so." Kira drew back slightly, glancing down the line of Odo's
body and seeming pleased with what she saw. "Very nice -- did you stay up
all night practicing?"

"No, I sat up looking at pictures with -- looking at pictures."

Kira had not missed the "with". "With whom?" she questioned.

Odo sighed. "With Dax."

The negative reaction he expected was not forthcoming. Instead, Kira smiled.
"Good for Jadzia," she commented. "I'll have to thank her next time I see
her."

Odo ran his hand lightly across Kira's shoulder. "So will I." He looked into
her eyes, a little smile curling the corners of his mouth. "And now, I'd
like you to tell me what to do."

Dax was right, Odo realized. A tiny spark of excitement leapt into Kira's
eyes, as she recognized the additional role of teacher he was calling upon
her to play. She blushed a little and smiled.

"All right," she conceded. "I think I'd like you to touch me for a while,
and I'd like to touch you." Kira slid her hands over the silk-skinned perfection
of Odo's chest to demonstrate, before letting them wander to the regions
below his waist. Odo jumped. "Is this particularly sensitive, or are you
simulating it for me?" Kira asked softly, letting her fingertips encircle
the object of her inquiry.

Odo responded with some difficulty. "Dax -- suggested that I might want to
concentrate some of my pleasure receptors there."

"I take it you did." Kira fondled him gently.

"All of them. It may have been -- too much." There was a faint silver shimmer
of disbursement under Kira's hand. "That's better." Odo relaxed a bit, reaching
out for Kira and beginning to touch her in turn. She sighed in contented
arousal as Odo's long, graceful hands explored her body, noting and paying
careful attention to all of the most sensitive places and occasionally sending
off a little arc of that strange shifting effect to vibrate against
her skin.

Kira finally sat up, pushing her short hair back off her forehead and murmuring,
"Why don't you -- lie on your back?" Kira angled her body over Odo's, sighing
once again in appreciation as she saw -- and felt -- how well he had done
his homework. She guided him inside her, her face taut with both passion
and concentration. "A little too hard -- that's better. Oh, that's
perfect. Just perfect . . ."

Kira gasped, her eyes flying open in shock as Odo shifted ever so
slightly within her encircling warmth, setting up a tingling vibration that
echoed back into his own flesh. Odo brought his hands up against Kira's breasts,
where they ceased to be hands and became tongues of silver flame moving over
her body. "Should I move at all?" Odo questioned softly.

"Like this?" Odo suited his actions to Kira's words, pushing her beyond the
realm of coherent speech. "Yes, like this . . ." he answered his own question,
as Kira's feelings began to echo back at him through his sensitive flesh.
It was like everything she felt was mirrored in his own body -- while he
might never have truly determined what it meant to be a rock, Odo had a very
real sense of what it meant to be Kira Nerys -- in body, at least -- as her
responses were duplicated in him. It was over far too soon, when she began
to whimper uncontrollably, calling out Odo's name over and over until finally
she cried out and collapsed against his chest. The sensations, delicious
as they were, were fading too quickly, leaving Odo with a curious sense of
something yet unfinished. Odo looked down at the top of Kira's head as she
lay supine against him, a faintly disappointed expression on his face. He
asked politely, "Is that enough, or should I keep it up for a while?"

Kira was so concerned at the implication that she completely ignored the
pun. "It didn't do a lot for you, did it?"

Odo evaded the question with one of his own. "Did it do enough for you?"

"It was wonderful -- but that's not to say I couldn't go for more of the
same -- or more of something different, if you'd like." Kira paused before
going on, her tone worried. "You still haven't answered my question."

"It was -- extremely pleasant."

"What about when you shifted your shape? Was that better?"

Odo paused to consider. "It was especially stimulating -- but you didn't
look like you could handle very much of it."

"What are you talking about?"

"It almost seemed like -- I was hurting you."

"The outward visuals on pain and ecstasy are pretty indistinguishable," Kira
said softly. "Trust me -- you can shift all over me if you want to."

Odo felt a small tremor of excitement run all the way through him, as his
body urged him to accept the offer. "I would like that," Odo admitted.

"Then let me get underneath, just in case I pass out." Kira laughed at Odo's
frightened stare. "Odo -- it's a joke!" Kira stroked his cheek reassuringly.
"I just want you to be able to cover as much of me as possible."

"Then I suggest you sit right where you are." Before she could so much as
breathe, Kira found herself enveloped in a column of Odo, pulsing liquid
electricity against every inch of her exposed skin, as well as the tender
region between her thighs. Kira literally writhed in response to the intense
stimulation, climaxing over and over until she screamed. Odo finally re-coalesced
into a semi-humanoid form -- still shimmering, slightly gelantinoid, but humanoid
in basic shape.

"Nerys -- don't stop touching me," he whispered. Kira tentatively began to
slide her hands, and then, more boldly, her mouth and her entire body, across
Odo's chest, down his stomach and thighs, up again to his shoulders and neck.
If the sensations echoing through her skin were any indication of what the
shapeshifter was experiencing -- Odo let out a low moan and a sigh, finally
finishing his transformation back to the form with which Kira was most familiar.

"Are you all right?" she gasped. Kira herself felt too weak to move after
the orgasmic crescendo that had just ricocheted through her body. She could
do little more than go limp, lying on top of Odo, her head tucked into the
curve of his neck and chin.

"I think I need to -- regenerate, just for a few minutes," Odo said faintly.
Kira found herself lying in a puddle of pulsing quicksilver, an interesting
sensory experience combining the best elements of a massage and a waterbed.
Drifting off to sleep herself, Kira's last thought was both entertaining
and vulgar.

Even with a changeling, I get to sleep in the wet spot. She snuggled
into Odo's gelatinous warmth and smiled.

When next they met, Odo greeted Dax as usual, only the look in his eyes conveying
the warmth of his thanks. It was Kira who took Dax's face in her hands
and gave her a loud, grateful kiss on the mouth.

THE END

STAR TREK: DEEP SPACE NINE and all the characters, places, etc. therefrom
belong to Paramount Pictures -- even if they always don't use them to the
best possible advantage! :-) This story, on the other hand, is mine. Copyright
1995 by Carolyn R. Fulton

Like all fan-fic authors, your comments are my only reward. Please drop me a line at odofiles@aol.com and let me know what you think!